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H. WJBREOKENRIDGE & J. W. DUXBURY. SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE CENTRAL OFFICES. No. 266,344.

Patented Oct. 24, 1882;

INVENTORI 4 SheeLS -Eheet 2. J w DUXBUEY. HONE GEN (No Model.)

H. W. BRECKENRIDGE 82; I SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR TELEP No. 266,344.

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Patented Oct. 24, 1882..

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- H. W. BRECKENRIDGE & J. W. DUXBUEY. SYSTEMANDAPPARATUSEORTELEPHONEGENTRALOEFIGES.

No. 266,344. Patented o t. 24, 1882..

INVENTORI 4 Sheets$heet 4.- H. W. BRECKENRIDGE 82: J. W. DUXBURY.- SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE CENTRAL OFFICES. No. 266,344.

(No Model.)

Patented Oct. 24, 1882.

NTT STATES PATENT Tries.

HENRY YV. BRECKENRIDGE AND JOHN W. DUXBURY, OF PROVIDENCE, P. I.

SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE CENTRAL OFFICES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 266,344, dated October 24, 1882,

Application filed October 17, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: use in our improved system. Fig. 2 is a dia- 3eit known that we, HENRY \V. BREGKEN- gram illustrating a partial vertical section of RIDGE and J OHNW. DUXBURY, both ofthecity the board on the dotted line mm, Fig. 1. Fig. and county of Providence and State of Rhode 3 is a diagram illustrating the switch-connec- 5 Island, have invented a new and useful Imtions between the several switch-boards in a provement in Systems and Apparatus for Telecentral office. Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating phone Central Offices; and we do hereby dethelocal annunciator-circuits. Fig. 5 is askelclare that the following is a full, clear, and exetou section on the line y y of Fig. 1. act description of the same, reference being Referring to Fig. l, the switches are each IO had to the accompanying drawings, forming composed ot'two parallel metal bars, a and a, part of this spccifiation. arranged upon the face of the board A, and ()ur invention relates to a system and aphaving between them a series of metal disks, paratus for use in the central oiiice of a telec, the adjacent edges of the said disks and phone-exchange of that class in which the sub bars being recessed for the reception of plugs t5 sciibers lines are divided into groups termiin'the usual manner for connecting the bars nating or centering at diflerent switch-boards, and disks electrically.

each of which is provided with means for 0011- The disks'c are all provided at their backs necting its lines with all the other switch: with pins f, (shown in Fig. 2,) which project boards in the oflice. through the board, and through these pins and 20 The objects of theinvention are to facilitate wires 9 all the disks in the vertical column are connections between subscribers whose lines connected together and with the stationary terminate at different switch-boards, and to contact-point lb of a key, H, said key being avoid confusion and loss of time in the central connected with one of the contact-springs oot' office by obviating the necessity for shouting a telephone-switch lever, I, by which the re- 7:

2 and card communication between the switchceiving-telephone R belonging to the switchboard operators in giving directions from one board may be connected in or removed from to another-in regard to desired connections. the subscribers circuit. The anvil h of the To these ends the invention consists in cerkey H is connected with one pole of a callingtain novel electrical connections between the battery, K, the other pole of which is cono switches ofthe central switch-boards in a cennected with the ground.

tral oflice whereby subscribers lines are con- The top switch of the board is a local telenected from one board to another; in providphone-switch, the use of which will be hereining for telephone communication between the after explained, while the other switches are switch-board operators over local telephonefor connecting subscribers lines.

35 circuits and by annuncitators connected there- A vertical metallic bar, E, is arranged upon with; in a novel system oi'receiviug a subscribthe board' adjacent to one end of each of the ers call, connecting the calling line with the switch-bars, the ends of said bars and the opswitch-board at which the line of the called posite portions of the edge of the vertical bar subscriber terminates, notifying the operator being recessed for the reception of plugs. The

' 0 at said switch-board,and ascertaining the callvertical bar is in practice connected with the ing subscribers wants by repetition from him ground, and through it and the plugs the direct; and in certain novel details of construcswitch-bars are to be always kept in connection tion and connections by which subscribers with the ground when not in use.

line-circuits are always kept closed when not The letter M designates a series of annunci- 5 5 in use, thus-enabling communication between ators, one only being shown in Fig. 2. Asubsubscribers and the central otfice at all times scribers line, as shown at L, Fig. 2, connects when they are not in telephonic communicawith one of the terminals of the coils of the tion with other subscribers. annunciator-ma-gnet m, and the other coil ter- In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is minal is connected by a wire, a, with the post [00 o afrontelevation of a switchboard constructed 1, which supports the pivoted switch-lever I.

according to our invention and adapted for This lever has two curved armsyiand i, which by swinging the lever may be brought alter- I A are connected with the bars of switch A of nately in contact with the springs 0 and 0, which project from the board. The springs 0 are curved over a horizontal metallic bar, P, supported in front of the board by standards 1), and to one end of the barP is connected one of the telephone-wires, 1', the other wire, a", being connected to a wire, g, which connects the several springs 0 together. The springs 0 are so arranged that their curved tips are normally in contact with the bar P, but are removed therefrom when the arms 1 of the switch-levers are swung into contact with the springs, pressing the said springs downward.

There is a switch-lever, I, a key, H contacts, and connections, as shown, for each subscribers line and vertical column of disks 0. The lower bar of the lowermost switch on the board is connected with the ground, and should be plugged into connection with all the disks above it at all times when the disks are not in use for connecting with other switches, this bar serving as a ground-bar for all the subscribers lines, as the bar E serves as a groundbar for all the switch-bars. Vhcn a subscriber on any particular line causes the drop of his annunciator to fall the current which operates it passes from the line L through the coil of magnet m, over wire at, post I, lever I, its arm 1', (which should be kept normally in contact with spring 0, the arm t" being then notincontact with spring 0,) over spring 0, key I],contact 72, pin 71?, wire g, pin fot the lowermost disk in the column, to which the wire g is connccted, over the disk and a plug to the bar below, and thence to the ground. \Vhen the connections are thus it will be seen that the telephone R is not in circuit; but on observing the fall of the annnnciator-drop the operator swings his switch-lever which is connected to same line up to position shown in Fig. 2, thus bringing the arm i of said lever in contact with its spring 0, when a circuit will be established from the wire a, over post I, the lever-arm 'i, spring 0, wire r, through the telephone-coil, over wire 1', bar P, spring 0, key H, and thence to the ground, as before. The telephone being thus in circuit, the operator may inquire as to the wants of the subscriber, which being ascertained, the proper connections will be made.

The means of making the connections will be now described with reference to Fig. 3.

Each connecting-switch (composed of parallel bars a and a. and intermediate disks 0) on aboard is designated by a particular mark letters being used in the present instance-and the switch-boards are similarly lettered-that is, eachboard has its switches lettered A B (J I), 850., and the boards themselves are also lettered A B O D, &c., respectively. The switch having a certain letter on any board is used for connecting that board with a board having the same letter as the said switch and with a switch on said board having the same letter as the first board. For instance, referring to the Fig. 3, the bars ot'switch B on board board B, the bars of switch 0 of board A are connected with the bars of switch A of board 0, the bars of switch D of board A are connected with switch A of board 1), and so on, the letter of the switch on any b0 trd indicating what other board said switch is connected with.

The upper bar of each switch, except that switch having the same letter as its board, is connected with the lower bar of the switch with which it is connected on another board. For. instance, the upper bar of switch B on board A is connected with the lower bar of switch A on board B. This is to avoid any doubt as to which bar is to be used, it being understood that the first connection made from a board, or after the receipt of a subscribcrs call, is made through the upper bar, and this connection is to the lower bar of the switch through which communication is desired to be established. For instance, when the operator at table D receives notice that a line tcrminat ing at board A is desired to be connected with a line terminating at his board, he knows that the connection is to be made through the lower bar of his switch A, and at the proper time plugs between said lower bar and the disk above which bears the number of the line called.

The notification from one operator to an other that a connection is desired is made by means of a local annnneiator and a circuit between the boards for actuating the same. Each switch-board has a lateral extension, as shown at A Fig. 1, upon which are arranged the local annnnciators M, one for each of the other boardsthat is, switch board A will have local annunciators connected with keys, as shown at S, Figs. 1 and 4, at boards A, 1;. C, and 1), respectively, and lettered the same as the said boards, the board B is provided with annnnciaiors connected with keys at boards A, U, and 1), respectively, and so on.

Each local annunciator is connected with a key at a board having a corresponding letter. For example, local annunciator B at board A is connected with key A at board B, annunciator U is connected with key A at board 0, and so on, so that by manipulating a key at any board an annnnciator at a board having a letter corresponding to the letter of the key manipulated is operated, said annunciator hav ing a letter corresponding to that of the board at which the manipulated key is located. Thus when any switch-board operator observes the fall of the drop of a local annunciator at his board he knows immediately by the letter of the annunciator that the operator at a board having the same letter is signaling that aconneetion is to be made, this connection being made on the lower bar of the switch having the same letter as the board signaling, as before explained.

In Fig. 4 the wires comprising the local-annunciator circuits are indicated by the letter '10, complete metallic circuits with return-wires IIO being shown, though, of course, ground-connections might be used.

Ordinarily itis unnecessary for the operators at the different switch-boards to communicate with each other except through the local annunciators; but it" anything should go wrong in making connections, and conversation becotne necessary, this conversation will be carried on over local telephone-circuits, the wires of which areindicated by the letter w in Fig. 3.

It has been before stated that the top switch on each board is for making local telephoneconnections. The disks 0 between the bars of this top switch are lettered A B O D, 850., and these disks of each top switch are connected with similarly-lettered disks of the other top switches by wires 10, as shown in Fig. 3.

The left-hand annunc-iators of the top rows of annunciators are not used in subscribers circuits, but are for calling between the difi'erent switch-boards for conversational purposes. The wires 10 (see Figs. 3 and 5) from the top disks of each board connect respectively with similarly-lettered disks at each other board, and at each board one of these wires passes through its left-hand annunciator before it connects with the top disk having the same letter as the board-as, for instance, the top disks A of boards B, C, and D are connected with the top disk A of board A, the circuit passing first through the lel'thand annunciator ofboartl A, the top disk B of boards A, G, and 1) connect with the top disk B of board B, the circuit passing first through the left-hand annnnciator of board B, and so on. The lower bar of the top switch of each board (see Figs-1 and 5) is connected by a wire, a, with disks No. l, or the left-handdisks, otall theswitches below it, except the left-hand disk of the bottom switch, and said wire at also connects with the postl of the left-hand telephone-switch.

- Thelower No.1, or left-hand disk oteach board,

is connected by a wire,g, with the upper stop, h, of the key H ofsaid left-hand switch. Now,

when the operator at any board wishes to con verse with the operator at any other board he removes the plug from the end of the top bar of his top switch (where it should normally be kept) and inserts it between thelower bar and the disk having the letter of the board to be called. He thus connects the left-hand annuncia-tor of the board to be called with the post l of his own boartl, and then, after turning his left-hand switch 1 to contact with the adjacent spring 0, as shown in Fig. 5, he can, by depressing the left-hand key H, send acurrent from the battery K over the local line (one ot'the wires to) to operate the left-hand annunciator ofthe board he wishes to call, and from which he can, by leaving the key raised, receive a reply through his telephone. The operator at the board called, on seeing the'drop of his left-hand annunciator fall, removes the plug from the end of the lower bar of his top switch and inserts it between said bnrand the top disk bearing the letter of his board. He then turns his let'thand switch I to the position shown in Fig. 5, and with'his telephone inquires as to who wishes to converse with him. The conversation may then proceed, and the plugs and the telephone-switches are to be placed in their normal positions when it is finished.

By the use of these local conversational telephone-circuits, it will be seen, all contusion by shouting and loss of time by moving about the office and awaiting the movements of messengers are avoided. v

The following directions will give abrief recapitulation of the working of the system and apparatus.

For connecting its own snbscriberslinesthe switch at each board will be used which bears the letter of the board. Suppose acall comes to board A over its line 5 from a subscriber desiring to communicate with a subscriber on linetiot' the same board. On observingthe fall of the drop of annunciator 5, connect in thetelephone on line 5 through its switch and ask what is wanted. After getting an answerand requesting the calling subscriber to wait a moment, put up the drop ofv the annnnciator, remove the plug from below the disk 5 ot' the lower switch and insert it between the lower bar of switch A and its disk 5, "and call the subscriber on line 6. ()n receiving his answer, remove theplug from disk Got thelowcr switch and insert it between disk 6 anti the lower bar ct switch A; then remove the plug from the end of the lower bar of switch A and put up XVhen the communication is.

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nected through the top bar of switch A, and

if still two others desire to communicate they IIO lowerswitch by transferring the plugs from the lower to the upper sides of the disks and removing the plug from theentl of the upper bar of said switch. Each board may also have an extra switch for connecting its own subscribers. Suppose a call comes on line 5 of board A for lineaot' board Asccrtain as before what is wanted on A 5 and put up annunciator, press the key for announcing connection to B, transfer the plug on A 5 from ground-bar at bottom of switch to the upper bar leading to B, and remove plug from end of bar leadingto B and place it in a holeinthe wood at the end of the bar. This completes the operation at board A. At B, when A annunciator t'alls, remove plug from the end of lower bar marked A to No. 1 disk, connect -in telephone on No.-l line, and ask who is.

wanted After ascertaining this, call the desired party on B 4, as before described; connect the telephone on his wire to ascertain when he replies. When a reply is obtained transfer plug from B 4 ground-bar to the bar leading from A and remove the plug from No. 1 disk to a hole in the wood at the left of bar for A. Put up annunciators immediately. To disconnect, put the pins back in the groundbar at the bottom of the switch and at the end of the bar.

If anything goes wrong oris not understood, call the desired switch by plugging the disk beariu g its letter in the upper row of disksand second upper bar and signal by No.1 key and telephone.

Put up the annunciators at once after answering or making a call and before the connection is completed, as by this means the subscriber can signal again it the connection is forgotten or is incorrectly made. Be sure that the ground plugs are pntin at the ends of. the bars when the bars are notin use, and that these plugs are placed in the wood at the ends of the bars when the bars are occupied. The upper bar of any line-switch is always to be used in connecting a tirst calling line with a switch on another board, and at said other board the lower bar is to be used in completing the connection. A second calling line on the same board will be connected from the lower bar to the upper bar of the desired switch. A third connection may be made through the lower bars of the top switches.

Having thus described my invention. I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a telephone central-office system, a series of switch boards provided with lineswitches, each of which is composed of two metal plug-bars and an intermediate series of metal plug disks or plates arranged for plugconnection with said bars, the bars of the switches on one board being electrically connected respectively with bars on the opposite sides of the. disks of switches on other boards, substantially as described.

2. A series of telephone switch-boards provided with switches composed of two metal plug-bars and a series of intermediate metal disks adapted for plug-connection therewith and connected electrically in rows transverse to the bars, one of which bars is provided with a ground connection, each board having a metal plug-bar, E, arranged transversely to the ends of its switch-bars and adapted for connection with the ground, and any desired number of the switch-bars of each board, ex elusive ot' the switch-bar connected with the ground, being in permanent electrical connection with switch bars of one or more other boards, substantially as described.

I). In a telephone central ofiice, a series of switch-boards, each provided with switches composed of metal plug-bars (t and a. and intermediate metal plug-disks, c, the metal bar 1*], arranged for plug-connection with the ends of all said switch-bars, the line and local aununciators for indicating connections to be made, keys, and electrical connections, substantially as described.

4. In a telephone central-oflice system, the combination, with a series of line switchboards, each provided with terminal points, arranged in pairs, and means for connecting one terminal point of one board with an opposite terminal point on another board, as described.

5. In a telephone central-otlice system, the combination, with a series of line switch boards provided with terminal points, arranged in pairs, and connecting-lines, of means for connecting the points with the ground, so that after the calling subscriber is connected with the board of the called subscriber the calling subscriber can still signal to the operator of the board with which he is connected, as described.

(3. In a telephone central-ot'tice apparatus, a series of switch-boards, each provided with line-switches, transfer or board-connecting conductors connecting the switches of each board with those of other boards, and local telephone-circuits connecting the boards independently of the said transfer or boardconnecting conductors, substantially as described.

7. In a telephone central-oflice apparatus, a series of switch-boards, each provided with line-switches in combination with a series of transfer-lines connecting each switch of each boardpermanently with a correspondingswitch of another board, local telephone-lines connecting all the boards--one line for each board-and independent local annunciators and ann uuciator-circuits conncctingeach board with every other board in the system, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

In a telephone ccntral-oflice system, the con'ibination, with the series of switch-boards, each provided with line-switches and line-annunciators, ot'the local telephone-oircuits-ouc for each board-a local annunciator connected in the local telephone-circuit at each board, the local telcphone-circuit plug-switch at each board, the local telephone-switch I at each board, constructed substantially as described, the wire a. connecting said switch with the lower bar of the local telephone-circuitswitch, the key H of said switch, the upper stop, h, of the. said key, the wire g, connecting said stop with ground-connections, and the lower stop of said key, connected with an electric generator, the local annunciator being con nected with one of the disks of the localtelephone-circuit switch at each board, and said disks being adapted for connection with adjacent bars by means of metal plugs, substantially as set forth.

HENRY W. BRECKEN tIDGE. JOHN W. DUXBU 'LY.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH A. MILLER, Jr. JOSEPH A. MILLER.

ICO 

